Confessions of an Erstwhile Mermaid

My friend Kathy Chiles and I go way back.  As teenagers we met on Maui, Hawaii as our respective fathers were part of a two-year construction project which imported a bunch of workers and their families from Washington State.  Being uprooted from a stable teenage life and tossed into a public high school on Maui at age thirteen in 1974 was one of the worst years of my life.

I'm guessing it wasn't great for Kathy either, but it it's hardly a blip on her life experience radar compared to what she and her family went through in recent years.  She believed with all of her heart and mind that she was a mermaid.  Not just any mermaid though.  A mermaid who bought luxury items her family couldn't afford.  A mermaid who had the gift of ESP and was able to communicate with the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates, as well as the Dalai Lama.  Eventually she was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, as things were on the verge of getting really, really bad.

She recently wrote an incredible and noteworthy book about her experiences, called Pangaea:  Confessions of an Erstwhile Mermaid.  It's a fascinating read and has been a true learning experience for someone like me, whose knowledge of mental illness has been primarily driven by what I've seen on TV and in the movies.  (Spoiler alert:  it's NOT at all like what you've seen on TV and in the movies).

Kathy's book is available for download on Amazon.  Click here for the link.  She's also a fellow blogger and her fine blog Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog can be found here.
 

I recently asked her a few questions about her book and experiences.

What motivated you to write this book?

The idea of writing my book came from my mom.  When I got out of the hospital and went to their house so they could "babysit" me while my husband was on a Boy Scout outing, I told both my parents some of the psychotic thoughts I was having.  She and Dad were initially afraid, and she suggested I write them down so I would remember them later. Then, later on, she complained that when I went into the hospital she looked for books and resources to get an understanding of what might lay ahead of them, but there was nothing out there.
 
The only book remotely close was An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jameson. But that book wasn't really pertinent to my situation as she saw it.  So once my ability to read and write returned, she suggested I write something that would instruct people on what to expect when their loved one became mentally ill.  I did some research and learned that she was right.  There isn't anything out there like what I was able to write.

You seem to have a crystal clear recollection of what took place on your journey.  Did you paraphrase your words on occasion or do you really have a brilliant sense of recalling situations?

Initially, my memory was so bad that I couldn't figure out how I had ended up in the mental hospital in the first place. My brain simply had hidden the information about the zombies in the pool from me.  The zombies were, of course, what drove me to go to the hospital emergency room which led to my subsequent involuntary commitment. Once I was committed, the psychiatrist kept asking me who I had been helping to move before my commitment.  I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. 

Once I began writing my thoughts and memories down, it was as if the blanket slowly lifted.  The more I wrote the more I remembered. It was therapy.  In the end, it was like sitting down in my living room and watching a movie and writing down what I saw. Easy as pie.  It was all crystal clear once the memory surfaced.  Then, at the hospital, I met so many interesting people that it was easy to remember them.  I have been told that having a psychotic break is like being on LSD, and I think this accounts for some of the clarity of memory. 

Mental illness is getting more mainstream press these days, probably due to many tragic occurrences involving weapons.  What are some things we can do as a society to help further enhance awareness of what mental illness really is and approach the level of attention that a disease such as breast cancer receives?

The problem with mental illness is that the tremendous stigma attached to having a mental illness keeps people from getting help.  Also, the nature of the illness itself precludes people from getting help, because one of the symptoms of the illness is a failure to understand that you are sick.  It's called anosognosia. 

One of the other problems is that people's civil rights get in the way of treatment.  There's no way around the fact that involuntary commitment is the ultimate violation of civil rights.  The law makes it almost impossible to involuntarily commit people, and when they do they don't keep them long enough for adequate treatment.  A hospital stay is driven by the number of beds available and the insurance of the person being committed.  Ideally, we would make it socially acceptable to seek treatment and get someone involuntarily committed and keep them long enough for their medication to fully take effect.  This means months of treatment rather than the two weeks currently in vogue. 

Had the stigma not been so great, I could have avoided a hospital stay.  When the voices took over my mind, I went to my physician and got a referral to a psychiatrist, but the voices convinced me it would ruin my life if I went.  They said my bosses would find out and fire me.  So I didn't seek treatment and ended up hospitalized involuntarily.

But things are getting better as far as stigma goes, and people like Katherine Zeta Jones are proof of that.  Her voluntary commitment to a mental hospital hasn't seemed to affect her career.  Her brave action might help others seek the help they need.

What would you say are the most common misconceptions people might have about mental illness?

In terms of involuntary commitment or even voluntary commitment, people have the impression that once you're released you're "fixed".  But it takes months for the medication to build up enough in your system to get the symptoms under control.  My family is surprised that it took me so long to get rid of the voices.  And in reality, I still hear them when I get under stress.  So the thought that I will eventually be "disease free" is a misnomer. 

How have your relationships with family and friends changed since your diagnosis and subsequent stabilization?

One of the things my medication does is change my personality.  I don't have the ups and downs that normal people have.  I am stuck in "neutral", neither high nor low.  And being stuck in neutral means that my personality changed.  Compared to before, I am now boring and predictable.

Additionally, I have changed my personality as a result of my illness. I was a risk-taker and a workaholic before I became ill.  Now I am neither.  I can't be a risk-taker any more, since with risk comes stress. Stress brings back the voices. The voices don't bother me, but they bother the people around me. My psychiatrist is especially bothered by them, but I refuse to take so much medication to eliminate them that I am comatose, which is what it would take.

Changing my behavior and my occupation also changed my interests, and with that change came new friends.  I have mostly dropped my old friends, having nothing in common with them except memories.  I don't face the same daily challenges I did before I was ill, so I can't relate to my old friends any more. 

Having very few challenges in my life (to avoid stress) also changes my personality.  I have been told I was a steamroller/bitch before I became ill, and that I am much more pleasant to be around nowadays. That is all to the good.

I have met many new friends through my association with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), an organization I learned about in the mental hospital.  I can relate to these people better than "normal" people, since we share similar experiences.  Talking with someone about the challenges of hearing voices is comforting.  I feel I'm not alone.  And friends and family members whose loved ones are mentally ill have been especially kind to me.

Do you have any challenging side effects as a result of the medications you use?

When I first left the hospital, I couldn't read or write.  My balance was off, my hands shook and I couldn't drive because I couldn't get up to the speed limit or determine the distance between my car and the car in front of me.  These side effects have mostly resolved, and I am left with short term and long term memory problems and sleep problems.  Sleep is critical to me because without proper sleep I will become psychotic again according to my psychiatrist.  The biggest side effect I have is that I can't retain information or understand information like I did before I became ill.  I prided myself on my high IQ before, but I have lost that. Remember the book "Flowers for Algernon"?  That's kind of what I feel like.  It takes me a long time to understand concepts now, and in some cases I simply give up.
 
According to my psychiatrist, that could be due to my medication or the changes in my brain chemistry caused by the mental illness. Either way, it's not going to resolve itself.  I'm stuck this way.  It was initially depressing, but the further I get from my pre-high IQ self, the more my memory fades of what it used to be like to instantly grasp and retain information and process multiple thoughts simultaneously.  Those things made me very good at my job, and i was paid well for my skill.  It has been quite an adjustment to get used to my "new normal".   If I could return to my old life, I would in a heartbeat.  But that world is closed to me now.

Are you involved with any organizations which promote education, funding or treatment or mental illness?

My family and I first learned about NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) when I was discharged from the mental hospital.  They recommended I attend the weekly group therapy meetings (called Connections) held by NAMI.  I went to them, and found them important in my recovery.  Relating to people with similar problems helps. Sometimes I learn about successful solutions from someone who went through what I went through.  It's amazing how many people hear voices, although the term "hearing voices" has many different variations.  It's fascinating to learn about other people successfully (or not) meeting the challenges of living with a mental illness.

I now co-facilitate a Connections group in Everett, WA.  I also speak to people about what it's like to live with a mental illness through a program called In Our Own Voice.  Additionally, once a year NAMI meets with police officers and educates them on how to handle mentally ill people they run into during the course of their work.  This is called CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) and is designed to keep police officers from accidentally killing people in the throes of a psychotic break as well as to keep mentally ill people out of prison or jail when possible.

We also go to Olympia, WA during Martin Luther King Jr's birthday to lobby legislators on behalf of mental illness issues. NAMI's purpose is to make the world a better place for those living with a mental illness and their friends and loved ones.

One of the best examples of what NAMI accomplished is the new "parity" law, which says that insurance companies who pay for regular hospital stays must pay for mental hospital stays to that same degree, Also, Washington State is making it easier to involuntarily commit people by allowing the Designated Mental Health Professionals (who assess people for involuntary commitment) to gather information from friends and loved ones and other interested parties of those being assessed.  Previously none of the bizarre behavior witnessed by others could be taken into account for assessment purposes. 

Also, a certain percentage of taxes must go towards mental illness, and that money is spent on mental health issues.  This is resulting in things like Mental Health Court and Triage Facilities (places to handle the mentally ill without entering the criminal system).  There are more beds being built right now in King and Snohomish Counties.  None of these things would have happened without NAMI. 

New York City - Part Six - The Craft Beer Scene

No trip would be complete without a few words about the local craft brew scene.  I’m going to focus on a couple of places within easy walking distance of where we stayed on the Upper West Side, as well as a couple of others.

 

First is George Keeley.  This is a lively place in evenings and weekends as it tends to attract a younger crowd who are there to catch a game on TV.  It’s got a solid selection of around a dozen local brews as well as a couple from as far away as San Diego.  We didn’t see anything from the Northwest though.  The beer was good and the pub food pretty decent.  A solid choice if you don’t mind being in a place that’s a bit on the noisy side.
 

A Nice Day on Amsterdam Street:  Jacob's Pickles

Our favorite was Jacob’s Pickles, which we originally thought was called “Beer, Biscuits and Pickles” as that’s what the big sign out front said.  True to their word, they have great biscuits, some excellent uniquely flavored pickles, and the best selection of beer we found on this vacation.  Their Bronx Rye IPA on cask was tasty after a long day of walking and riding in subway cars.
 

The Busy Biergarten at The Standard Hotel

 For those interested in German style beer gardens there is a large tent in the Chelsea neighborhood near the southern terminus of the High Line where you can get some satisfaction.  It’s called the Biergarten at The Standard Hotel. 

 

Another Happy Customer Leaving McSorley's

 One unique old tavern that’s worth a visit is McSorley’s Old Ale House near Greenwich Village.  This place has been around since 1854.  And it was one of the last establishments to have successfully banned women.  They managed to keep the ladies out until 1970.  You don't go their for the beer, as they're now owned by Pabst and essentially serve pedestrian light and dark lager.  You're there for the atmosphere, history and the cheese plate which consists of cheddar cheese, saltine crackers, raw onion, and pub mustard.  Besides, it's very cool to hang out in an establishment that both Abraham Lincoln AND Hunter S. Thompson used to frequent.

 

The Spartan Cheese Plate at McSorley's

Craft beer in New York is really just getting off the ground.  I think it’s where Seattle was around 20 years ago and it’ll only get better as local brewers will eventually convince the masses that whatever they’re producing is far better than the industrial stuff that you can buy anywhere.  Some of our favorites included:

Ithaca Flower Power

Yonkers IPA

Bronx Rye IPA

Harpoon IPA (from Massachusetts)
 

A Final Toast from McSorley's Old Ale House

New York City - Part Five - The Food

There are more than 18,000 restaurants in the New York City area.  If you ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at a different restaurant every day for 365 days a year it would take more than 16 years to complete the job.  And that doesn’t include the ones that open during those 16 years.  We had a week to narrow down that number to something manageable and settled for showing up at 0.0008% of them.

Something obvious that we noticed about Manhattan is that people go out to dinner a lot.  It adds up to a competitive food scene and a seemingly normal place to eat in NYC can hold its own with top tier restaurants in Seattle.  That’s our opinion anyway and we’re sticking to it.  Here then, in no particular order are some places we can recommend. And none of these are fancy, high-end, expensive, pretentious places by the way.  That just isn’t our style.
 

Our Very Own Grimaldi's Pizza

 Grimaldi’s Pizza.  This is the place in Brooklyn we ate at before our bridge walk.  It's a clean, comfortable and popular place with an upstairs dining room at which we were seated.  There was a bit of sniping going on between the manager and one of his staff which was entertaining.  I loved the passion that these guys brought to work.  Perhaps it’s an Italian thing.  At any rate, we ordered our favorite type of pizza (the Margherita) which was very good.  I’m sure there’s a lot of good pizza to be found in some unlikely places here and wish we had more time to confirm that theory. 

 

A Scene From the Deli at Zabar's

Zabar's.  This is a very famous deli that has tons of items to buy and take back to your residence to eat if you don’t feel like going to a sit-down place.  We bought some bagels and cream cheese here to take care of a few leisurely eat-in breakfasts after we got up, as well as scoring things like Shepherd’s Pie to heat up in the oven or microwave for dinner.  Their cheese selection is stellar as well.
 

Indian Tanpura on Amsterdam Street

Indian Tanpura.  A non-descript restaurant on the Upper West Side which was recommended to us by a friend of a friend.  BowlingWidow enjoyed the chicken tikka dinner while I was knocked out by my lamb in a spicy sauce.  Inexpensive, unassuming…..and incredible.
 

The Madison Square Park Shake Shack

Shake Shack.  This is their In-N-Out Burger if you’re from the southwest, or their Dick’s Drive In if you’re from Seattle.  The one we ate at was at Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Garden) and featured outdoor seating at their little plaza.  A great location, good burgers and as a bonus you could also get a beer.
 

Trattoria Trecolori

 Trattoria Trecolori.  This is a place near Rockefeller Center at which we went with our friends after catching a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Although we had reservations we didn’t really need them.  Good pasta dishes.  It’s clean and the service was attentive.  These guys get extra credit for using one those squeegee things to clean off the tablecloth as they removed our main course dishes.

 

Gray's Papaya

Gray’s Papaya.  There are a few of these hot dog stands in New York.  They’re known for cheap hot dogs with a casing that “snaps” when you bite into the dog.  Serviceable but not great…for the price though you definitely get what you pay for.  The “papaya” part of the name refers to a longtime accompanying drink.  And it rolls of the tongue better than Gray’s Mango would.
 

A Busy Night of Eating in Little Italy

Somewhere in Little Italy.  For the life of me, I can’t recall where we ate in Little Italy and I failed to write it down.  But trust me.  Eat anywhere in Little Italy.  You’ll love it.

OK….this post was so lengthy that I’m going into overtime with a Part Six in a week or so!  I’ll conclude next time with the local beer scene and some final thoughts.

New York City - Part Four - Great Walks

One of the things we noticed about New York City during the week we were there is that, in general, New Yorkers are pretty physically fit.  We saw the same thing in Chicago.  People tend to walk a lot.  And since you can walk a lot faster than gridlocked vehicles, walking makes sense.

 

They walk in parks.  They walk to and from the subway.  They walk to the grocery stores and restaurants.  They walk their dogs.  That’s another thing.  Everyone who lived in one of the stone row houses (sans a front or back yard) seemed to have a dog.  And the dogs were height/weight proportional, too.

Here are a few walks that we found to be just great.

Central Park and The City from the Roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Central Park.  Certainly the most popular place to walk and jog in New York, Central Park is frickin’ big.  Six miles long and a half-mile wide.  We could have easily spent a week getting lost in Central Park.  I wouldn’t call the park particularly scenic (remember, we’re spoiled with some majestic National Parks here in the Northwest) but the fact that is there as an island of green in Manhattan really is pretty amazing.  Some of the things in the park worth a visit are:  Strawberry Fields, a quiet garden walk near The Dakota, where John Lennon was shot…..The Great Lawn, site of many memorable free concerts over the years including one we just missed out on (Stevie Wonder and John Mayer)……The Loeb Boathouse and Restaurant….Bethesda Fountain.

 

Bethesda Fountain on a Beautiful Day

Brooklyn Bridge.  You’re guaranteed to have lots of company on the pedestrian walkway that’s above the vehicle traffic on the bridge.  Lots of walkers, runners and cyclists make the half-hour (or so) trek across the famous structure every day.  We took the subway under the East River to Brooklyn and fueled up on some tasty NY pizza before walking around the neighborhood for a bit and hitting the bridge.  Just as walking across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco should be on anyone’s list who enjoys exercise, the same can be said about the Brooklyn Bridge.  Only this is better because it’s more user friendly and there’s usually no fog.

The Pedestrian Path Atop the Brooklyn Bridge

The High Line.  This is a real gem.  Not too many years ago, New York officials had the idea of taking an abandoned elevated rail line, sprucing it up into an aerial greenway, and making a great walking experience in the process.  The walk is about a mile long and runs along the west-central Manhattan near Chelsea Market at its southern terminus.  It’s a pleasant and relaxing walk with great views and art to be appreciated along the way.
 

Strolling Along the Old Rail Line

Building Art:  Great Scene from the High Line

Hudson River Greenway.  We were told by our upper west side hosts to check out this long path a few blocks from where we were staying.  It’s essentially a green and somewhat wooded narrow strip of land that runs along the east side of the Hudson River.  Not nearly as popular and crowded as Central Park, it’s a relatively nice and quiet area to walk a dog, bike or jog.

The (Relatively) Quiet Hudson River Greenway

As is typical of my travel series posts, I’ll conclude with food, drink and some final thoughts next time.

New York City - Part Three - Sites & Destinations

A week is really not enough time to spend in New York City to get a good sense of what it might be like to live there.  I suppose that’s true of most places that are worth visiting.  I went through some of our daily notes that we took and came up with a list of 10 places that we can endorse as being worthy of your valuable vacation time.  Well, actually nine that are worthy and one that was just memorable for perhaps all of the wrong reasons.  No, you won’t see the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty here, as they’ve gotten enough guidebook press over the years.  No scenic walks either.   That will be the topic of the next blog post.

So here we go, in no particular order:

1. Top of the Rock:  We heard this is the best view of the city, hands down.  We also heard it’s even better after dark but we’re morning people and were there at around 10:30am.  Well worth the experience, even if you just want to take a couple of pictures and hang out for a few minutes.  We didn’t have time to parlay this with the NBC studio tour but it was a great thought.
 

The Stellar View of Central Park and the City

2. Eataly:  Chef Mario Batali is of of the major backers of this huge “all things Italian” building.  Delis, restaurants, stores and so on.  Can you really choose among 40 brands of olive oil and 30 brands of pasta?  I would say at the very least, yes.  We didn’t eat or buy anything there but it was an amazing walk-through and is some serious foodie sensory overload.

The Olive Oil Aisle at Eataly

3.  Wall Street/Trinity Church:  These two things really have little to do with one another, other than the fact that they’re within a couple of blocks of one another, and Wall Street brokers are likely to drop into the church to pray after the latest financial meltdown.  The narrow Wall Street makes the buildings appear dark and somewhat evil.  The church and its beautiful stained glass is a welcome sight.

Visiting Our 401K at The NY Stock Exchange

4. Greenwich Village:  While this part of town is clearly not what I’ve read that it was like in the sixties and seventies, I’d still recommend it as a place to visit with some parks, shops and old taverns (such as McSorley’s Old Ale House).  Bob Dylan’s place at 161 West Fourth Street is still there, although nothing tells you that it was Dylan’s residence.  In fact, it exists today as just another garden variety sex shop.
 

One of the Narrow Streets of Greenwich Village

Mr. Zimmerman's Former Residence

5. Ground Zero:  We didn’t actually take the formal tour here but just walked around the perimeter and imagined what it must have been like to have been there on what started as a beautiful sunny weekday morning.
 

The New One World Trade Center:  Opening in 2014

6. Grand Central Terminal:  New York City has changed and updated this busy train and subway station, making it into a destination in and of itself.  The main floor is spacious and beautiful, with more than a tip of the hat to what it must have looked like 80 years ago.  The lighting and architecture are worth noting.  And if you’re hungry or want to go shopping there’s plenty of that, too.
 

Grand Central Terminal

7. Chelsea Market:  This two-block-long indoor market has just about everything.  Gifts, an oyster bar, spices from all over the world, boutique clothing, fancy cheeses…..etc.  And doesn’t it just figure that The Food Network headquarters are one floor above the market?
 

Inside Chelsea Market

 

More Chelsea Market:  Spices from Around the Globe

 8. Little Italy:  This part of town is slowly being consumed by Chinatown, but the several square block area that’s there is worth a visit with its restaurants, stores and general scenery.  And there’s even a Christmas store to satisfy BowlingWidow’s requirement of buying a tree ornament in every city we visit.

 

Little Italy's Restaurants:  Busy on a Nice Evening

9.  Chinatown:  The above mentioned Chinatown is the place that for us was memorable but not pleasant.  From the moment we got off the subway we were urged by folks who were very eager for us to check out their store, their produce, and I’m sure in some cases their stolen property.  We’ve been to Chinatowns in other cities and comparatively this one is at the bottom.  Almost no open space, and the stores and restaurants looked like they are on the verge of being condemned.  We couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

 

A Chinatown Street Corner

10. Columbia University:  I want to end on a positive note and with a place that we didn’t expect to make this list.  But if you have a couple of hours to spare, it’s worth taking a subway or a cab to 116^th Street and walking around the Columbia University neighborhood.  There are even a few hills here, something not often seen in most of Manhattan.  St. Paul’s Chapel is a nice visit, but most importantly how can you not like a university whose mascot is Roaree the Lion.

 

Inside St. Paul's Chapel

Next up:  I’ll review some great New York City walks.

New York City - Part Two - Times Square and Broadway

When I was growing up, I used to watch the New Year’s Eve TV show on ABC TV from Times Square.  Dick Clark would introduce a few musical guests.  Cameras would pan, showing the huge, bundled up crowd milling about the buildings that seemed to have a million multi-colored lights attached to them.  The giant ball would slide down a building to the beat of a countdown and it would be time to hang up a new calendar.  That’s how I remember Times Square.

Times Square:  The Center of the Universe?

We’d heard that Times Square had been cleaned up considerably since some very dark days in the 1970s and 1980s, so were anxious to see it.  Sure it was clean but I think I’d prefer to remember it the way I did growing up.  It seems to be the center of the universe in NYC.  Well, a lot of subway cars and buses converge there anyway.  And while we weren’t physically assaulted we were assaulted figuratively by hustlers trying to sell us everything from bus tours to Rolex watches (REAL Rolex watches, we were assured).

The Theater District in Late Afternoon

 It’s filled with every chain restaurant you can find anywhere else in America, only with red and green lights and two more floors of seating area.  Applebee’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp, TGIFs, McDonalds.  They were all there and ready to sell you the same hamburger you’d get in Dayton, Ohio (for 50% more of course).  Give us a clean, independent hole-in-the-wall with decent food over this any day of the week.  For us, travel is about garnering new experiences as much as anything else.  Perhaps Times Square itself should be the attraction.  But it just didn’t register with us.

Renee and Kent and 30 Rock Plaza Before Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

 There were a couple of events in and around Times Square and Broadway (The Broadway District is next to Times Square) which were well worth it.  One afternoon we met some friends, who also happened to be vacationing in the city at the time, for a taping of The Jimmy Fallon Show at Rockefeller Center, where NBC is located.  This is a great value since it’s one of the few things in New York that is absolutely free (unless you consider waiting in line to have a cash value).  Everyone says it, and it’s absolutely true:  TV studios seem waaaaay smaller in person than on TV.  Fallon was funny, the guests were ho-hum (Rebel Wilson, hallelujah artist Joel Osteen and musical guest Lorde, who is 16 going on 40 years old).  I’d have snapped a picture in there but doing so and getting caught would have landed us a year on Rikers Island.

BowlingJoe (red shirt) and BowlingWidow in the Jimmy Fallon Audience

On another day we hit Broadway and went to a matinee showing of “Once", a very entertaining musical set in Dublin featuring lots of great Irish music and a pleasingly simple story.  The music was written by Glen Hansard who also starred in the film version (which we have to see now).  Something unique about this production is the fact that the stage itself became a bar for the audience to partake in before the show and during intermission.  I wondered why more people weren’t taking advantage of this until I got on stage myself and discovered that an average 12 ounce beer would set you back thirteen bucks.  I get that this is New York, but really???  One more tip:  seek out the discount kiosks called TKTS the day before or the day of a show for huge savings.  We landed 11^th row center seats for around $75 each.  Not bad at all.

"Once" at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater on Broadway

Next post:  Sites and Destinations.  Now come on….can’t I narrow that down.  I mean, everything is a site or a destination, right?  Here's a preview of one in the picture below:  The Original Soup Man walk-up restaurant on 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan.  It provided the original inspiration for "The Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld.

New York City - Part One - The Museums

The skies were smooth and the late September weather was great as BowlingWidow and I coasted into JFK airport for our first ever trip to New York City.  After some initial confusion we hooked up with a cab company to set up the 45 minute ride into the city.  Other than some talk about our destination and cab fare, nary a word was spoken between us and the driver.  I wasn’t expecting to be on the Cash Cab or anything like that, but I thought New York cabbies were a bit more talkative than this one and the others which we encountered.

Our "Home" on the Upper West Side (2nd Floor...Open Windows)

We were in NYC for a full week, staying at a comfortable studio townhouse in the upper west side of Manhattan called (appropriately enough) The West Townhouse.  It was part of the endless brownstone row housing built in around 1890 that are abundant in the upper west side neighborhoods.  Our unit even came with a kitchen, giving us the ability to buy bagels, cream cheese and orange juice for the week and enjoy them at our leisure before hitting the streets and the subway.
 

Having a Kitchen Area Was a Nice Feature

For this blog post series, I’ve just made the executive decision to chunk the trip up into the following set of words and pictures:

Museums (that’ll be in this one)

Broadway and Times Square

Sites and Destinations

Walks

Food, Drink, and Concluding Thoughts

Let’s jump right into Museums…..

We regretted not visiting any museums when we were in Chicago, so wanted to make sure we went to the key ones in NYC.  We had plenty to choose from, and would have gone to all of them if we had a month to spend in the city.  That would have included places like The Frick Collection, The Guggenheim and the Jewish Museum of NewYork.  And then there’s the New York Public Library which we never got to.  Here’s what we did see:

The American Museum of Natural History.  This place has an amazing number of exhibits and buildings.  The planetarium show that we went to about the universe was interesting and well done.  There’s nothing like seeing one of these shows to help you walk out of the theater feeling really insignificant about your place in the solar system.  If you like exceptionally well done stuffed animals and dinosaur bones from all over the world, this is the place for you.   And it’s not just Natural History as the name indicates.  Artifacts and creations by cultures such as American Indian tribes are in abundance as well.

Well Made Stuffed Animals:  One of the Many Displays at the Natural History Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  At 2 million square feet, this is the largest museum of its kind in the country.  There’s no way one could get through this entire collection in a day unless you subscribe to the “speed theory” of art appreciation.  So we picked and chose.  They don’t just have paintings and sculptures here.  Sure they have Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso but their collection of musical instruments and armor, for example, is world class.

One of the Many Rooms at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Knights in Shining Armor at the Met

Museum of Modern Art.  Smaller than the Met and located in mid-town Manhattan, modern art here appears to be defined as “from 1900 to present”.  Mainly paintings, some of the more famous works here include “The Starry Night” (Van Gogh), and works by Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.  I’ll admit it….some of the more recent modern art acquisitions look like something I might be able to make at home in a couple of hours, although I’m sure that’s not true.  I guess we just don’t “get” art as many do.

Andy Warhol's Soup Cans in the Pantry at the MoMA

The Cloisters.  This is a small collection associated with the Met, and is a short cab ride away on the north part of Manhattan Island.  It’s essentially an exhibit of art and architecture from Medieval England.  Made possible by an endowment  grant by  John D. Rockefeller Jr., this can easily be experienced in a couple of hours.  It’ll probably take you longer to get to and from here depending on where you’re staying in the city.
    

Courtyard Garden at The Cloisters

Next up:  Broadway and Times Square

The Hits Just Keep On Coming

I don’t attend many concerts these days, and the ones that I do attend are usually in small settings with no more than a couple of hundred people in the audience.   That’s because I find that the odds are drastically reduced that I’ll find myself seated next to some obnoxious drunk who spent big money to show up and make a fool of him (or her) self while ruining the experience for those who are unlucky enough to be within a 30 foot radius of him (or her).  Also, ticket prices tend to be a bit lower at smaller venues which don’t usually host “name” artists or bands.

Leftynemesis and Interiors Maven at the Concert

BowlingWidow and I deviated a bit from that plan last weekend.  Along with our friends Leftynemesis and Interiors Maven we ventured a few miles north to the Tulalip Amphitheater to listen to the bands America and The Doobie Brothers.  Two bands that fit squarely within our demographic wheelhouse.  They may not have been the best bands of the 1970s, but are certainly among the most familiar as they were constantly on the radio.  America had 17 songs that made the US Top 100.  The Doobies clocked in with a remarkable 26.

I didn’t have high expectations for this show, but both bands actually delivered the goods and seemed to have a great time doing it.  If America ever gets tired of singing “Ventura Highway” or The Doobie Brothers are bored out of their minds doing “China Grove”, it didn’t show.  And between the two bands they clocked in at more than three hours (which included a half hour break to change the stage), making the $65 ticket stretch a bit further than usual.

The Doobie Brothers Rockin' the Amphitheatre

Finally, two more things about the night:  first, the horse still has no name.  And second, indeed right on schedule the annoying drunk guy was in our row a mere few seats away.

Welcome Back Hatch Chiles…It’s Been Way Too Long

Mid-August is a favorite time of the year for me.  It’s peak season for fresh fruits and vegetables that show up at grocery stores and farmers markets.  There’s fresh lettuce in abundance and the corn is starting to get good and sweet.

 That’s all fine and good, but what really gets this chile head going is the fact that it’s Hatch chile pepper season.  Pepper purists will tell you that there’s no such thing as a Hatch pepper and I suppose that technically they’re correct.  Hatch is a region in the state of New Mexico at which Anaheim chiles are grown.

Freshly Picked Hatch Chile Peppers

 I don’t know the science behind it, but the blistering hot days and cool nights at the elevation in which they’re grown result in a mighty flavorful product.  Twice the flavor (not necessarily hotness though) of your garden variety Anaheim if you ask me.

The Whole Foods near us is roasting them in their parking lot for the next few weekends, and as soon as we heard about it, BowlingWidow and I rushed down to have them roast five pounds for us.  The smell on the car ride home was heavenly.
 

Hatch Peppers in the Roaster

 After cooling, they were peeled and sealed into freezer bags in ¾ pound increments.  I can’t imagine getting through a winter without having pork chile verde stew at least a couple of times using these gems.  Not to mention enchiladas, quesadillas, and the countless other Hatch recipes that can be found in books or online.
 

Hatch Peppers "Sweating" in a Bag Prior to Peeling

Now if only I can learn how to stuff a chile relleno properly like they do in good Mexican restaurants……